This invention relates to cutting apparatus, and more particularly apparatus for automatically cutting relatively long workpieces, such as lengths of lumber, into blocks of predetermined length.
This invention involves an improvement upon cutting apparatus of the type such as shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,291,168 and 3,888,151 in which relatively long lengths of lumber are fed under the force of gravity through a plurality of chutes on a turntable, the turntable moving the chutes through a series of operating stations including a cutting station at which a saw blade cuts the workpiece in a horizontal cutting plane into blocks of predetermined length. The prior art cutting apparatus thus is relatively complex in both its structure and its principle of operation, and hence is relatively expensive to build and difficult to operate. Moreover, adjustments of this apparatus for cutting lengths of lumber of different cross sectional sizes, and for cutting the lumber into blocks of different predetermined lengths are difficult, time-consuming operations.